DEFINITIONS for MUSICIANS
QUICK REFERENCE
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VerifiedHuman label requires VH3 or higher on the Human-AI Spectrum
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Essential question: "Who composed it?"
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Acceptable AI use: Pitch correction, timing, mixing, mastering, effects, lyric prompts
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Not acceptable: AI-generated melodies, rhythms, or compositions you claim as yours
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The Five-Note/Five-Beat Principle: A gut-check—if you're using AI-generated sequences unchanged, you haven't transformed the material
Musicians today face a credibility challenge: how do you prove your work is authentically yours when AI can generate convincing music instantly? This standard draws a clear line between human composition and machine generation.
FOREWORD
The foundation of this standard is Essential Composition: who composed it?
Music is built from notes, sounds, and beats combined in countless ways. When a human selects and arranges these elements, they are the essential composer. When a machine does it, the machine is the essential composer.
Musical work means the selection and arrangement of musical elements—compositions that can be sung, put to words, played, or sampled.
With AI capable of composing entire songs, listeners deserve transparency about musical authorship. This standard helps musicians communicate their creative role while embracing evolving production tools.
We support musicians who use AI in non-standard ways.
For instance, some musicians use AI to generate intentionally curated, composited, and recombined work to form innovative tracks. They may find the VerifiedHuman label unhelpful on that piece, but use it for works created using traditional methods.
In this way, we hope to be helpful and encouraging to all musicians.
HUMAN-AI COLLABORATION LEVELS
Our 5-level Human-AI Spectrum shows who led the creative process. All VerifiedHuman-labeled work must meet or exceed VH3, meaning the musician led.
VH5 - Entirely Human-Composed
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The musician selected and arranged all notes, sounds, and beats without generative AI
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Traditional tools (pitch correction, timing, mixing, mastering, effects) are fine
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The work reflects the musician's creativity, expression, and artistic decisions
VH4 - Human-Composed, AI-Enhanced
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The musician selected and arranged all notes, sounds, and beats
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Generative AI may assist with non-composition tasks: lyric prompts, research, reference tracks, and technical documentation
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The musician's creativity and artistic decisions dominate; AI supports the workflow but doesn't generate musical content
VH3 - Human-Led, AI-Assisted
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The musician leads the creative process; AI contributes but doesn't control
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AI may generate raw material (melodies, rhythms, loops, variations), but the musician substantially transforms it
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The final work reflects the musician's artistic choices—not AI output with minor edits
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Apply the Five-Note/Five-Beat Principle as a gut-check: if you're using AI-generated sequences unchanged, you haven't transformed the material
Work below VH3 is not eligible for the VerifiedHuman label.
USING CONTENT OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN (AIU)
Sometimes, musicians use sounds, tracks, loops, rhythms, and samples where the source material is of unknown origin. In other cases, the musician may suspect that AI has generated some of the material they are using, but the origin, time, place, or purpose is unknown or uncertain. When using musical elements of unknown origin, add the AIU (AI-Unknown) tag to your VH level designation, for example, VH4-AIU.
In the spirit of this standard, the question remains: Did you compose it, or did AI compose it? We believe the musician's intention to create and present musical work as their own should always remain with them. Therefore, we urge all musicians to use the Five-Note/Five-Beat Principle as a gut-check and iterate their work in the creative process to ensure that their final product is unique and distinctive.
DEFINITIONS
Here are definitions of words and ideas used in the Standard for Musicians.
Standard
A statement of commitment to specific creative practices
Musician
The composer (or player/performer) of musical work
Represent
Claim, present, or share work as your own
Musical work
Musical elements selected and arranged into compositions that can be sung, put to words, played, or sampled
Team
A group of people working together
Intellectual property
A creative work to which one has legal rights, such as copyright or trademark
Essential
The fundamental elements or characteristics of something
Essentially composed
When a musician selects and arranges musical elements to create musical work. The test: Who composed it? (see Essential Composition below)
Essential musical elements
Notes, sounds, and beats—can be heard as songs, melodies, rhythms, or parts
Human
Noun: a person; Adjective: originating from a person
Generative AI
AI systems trained on existing content that generate new text, images, audio, code, or video in response to prompts. Examples include ChatGPT, Suno, and Udio.
Machine learning
Algorithms that learn from data to make predictions or generate content
Other generative processes
Any other AI or machine learning process that creates new content
OTHER DEFINITIONS
Other definitions of words and ideas related to the Standard for Musicians.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
A field of computer science focused on creating systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and generating content.
Music generation model
AI systems trained on music that generate new audio content in response to prompts. Examples include Suno, Udio, and AIVA.
Beat
A repeating measure of time
Note
A musical sound representing a pitch over a duration of time
INTERPRETATION
Here is a question that musicians commonly face when working with AI tools. The musician is responsible for adhering to their own values and exercising their own judgment.
Q: Can I use AI-generated music as a starting point for my own version of the song?
Here's how to evaluate this approach:
ACCEPTABLE: Using AI for inspiration, then composing from scratch. You listened to AI-generated ideas but selected and arranged every note yourself.
GRAY AREA: Taking an AI-generated melody and heavily modifying it (50%+ different notes/rhythms). Ask yourself: Who is the composer? Use the Five-Note/Five-Beat Principle as a gut-check.
NOT ACCEPTABLE: Using AI-generated sequences with minor edits. If AI selected and arranged the notes or beats, AI composed that music—even if you tweaked it.
The question remains: Who composed it?
REAL-WORLD SCENARIO: Electronic Track with AI Assistance
James creates an electronic dance track. He uses AI to:
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Generate songwriting prompts for lyrics (idea generation)
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Apply pitch correction to vocals (technical enhancement)
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Mix and master the final track (post-production)
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Add reverb and effects (production tools)
James composed every melody, bassline, drum pattern, and chord progression himself.
VERDICT: VH4 (Human-Composed, AI-Enhanced)
WHY IT QUALIFIES: AI assisted with technical tasks and idea prompts, but James selected and arranged all musical elements. He is the essential composer.
THE FIVE-NOTE PRINCIPLE
If you're copying and pasting entire musical sequences, you're not doing the composing. You're copying composition done by someone or something else.
The Five-Note/Five-Beat Principle is a gut-check: if AI selected five consecutive notes or five distinctive beats that appear unchanged in your final work, that's a sign you haven't transformed the material. Five isn't a magical number—it's just enough to be a recognizable sequence.
The spirit of the principle remains in the question: "Did you compose it, or did AI compose it?"
ESSENTIAL COMPOSITION
Musicians create compositions by arranging notes, sounds, and beats, forming melodies, rhythms, and songs.
The fundamental question that establishes the essential composition of a musical work is: Who or what composed it? This applies to entire scores, songs, or even smaller sequences of musical work.
RATIONALE
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Music creation is based on two primary elements—the note and the beat.
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Compositions come to life when notes and beats are arranged in a way that produces audible music.
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This can be achieved through singing, playing an instrument, sampling, or layering sounds.
ASSUMPTION OF HUMAN COMPOSITION
If a human puts notes and beats together to produce music that can be experienced meaningfully, then that human is the essential composer.
VerifiedHuman helps musicians certify their work as human-made. Established in April 2023, the standard provides a clear framework for communicating who led the creative process. Free to join. 230+ creators certified worldwide.
